Pin-Ballin’: Pinball Wizards Take Over Frisco

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FRISCO, TX -- Flashing lights, bumpers, even multi-ball; the Texas Pinball Festival brought the old school arcade experience back to Frisco.

“I grew up playing the Dolly Parton machine,” says Stacey Overbey. “And I saw it here for the first time since we sold it.”

Today's video games offer life-like graphics; heck, you can even play pinball on your phone. So, how can the old school like a pinball machines compete?

“Arcade games you can get pretty much the same thing at home,” says Steve Marsh. “But with pinball you really have to sit in front of a real machine to really play it.”

“Pinball is making a real comeback, it’s grown between 15 and 30 percent every year for the past five years,” says Paul McKinney one of the event's organizers.

Some Pinball machines are going high tech -- very high tech -- and getting rid of the steel ball all together. But that doesn't seem to be catching on with these folks.
C'mon -- what's the game without that iconic ball?

“I think that is where they’ve jumped the shark in some respects,” says Dan Hlavinka. “I think you’ve got to keep the table, with the sounds and the ramps. It’s a really big part of the game.

Yup, it seemed for a while that pinball was going the way of the jerry curl. But thanks to aficionados like these. They might be making a comeback, much like Michael Keaton’s career.